On this blog, we deal mostly in cars and trucks and the occasional motorcycle — all connected to the road by rubber tires. Now, for something refreshingly different (cue the sound of tank treads clanking along), we bring you Armoured Vehicles India, a conference where the delegates will talk about tanks, armored (or armoured) personnel carriers and how to keep them from getting blown up by the enemy.

I raise all this because I once served in an armored unit in West Germany (that’s what it was called during the Cold War.) I was in the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment (headquartered in Straubing, before it was eventually sent to Vietnam) and tanks were our main weapon in what would have been World War III if the proverbial balloon had gone up. If the Warsaw Pact forces had mounted a sudden cross-border attack, the estimated life span of the average G.I. close to the Czech border was said to be about five minutes. So I have a soft spot in my heart for those armored icons of yesteryear, the M60 Main Battle Tank and the M113 and M114 armored personnel carriers.

You can find out all you need to know about modern tank warfare by hying over to New Delhi for the November 18-20 Armoured Vehicles India conference, where a whole slew of generals from several different nations will be talking about how we fight tank battles in the 21st century. George Patton, we’ll miss you.